TucsonClip wrote:esqtvd wrote:
Let's face it--we got REALLY LUCKY nobody offered Ibaka some REAL money and he settled for our MLE. I suppose it's possible the Clips FO thought that if Ibaka turned us down, Trezz would still be dangling out there, looking for the big money himself. Instead he pounced on the Lakers MLE--perhaps out of hurt and spite that the Clippers [apparently] hadn't even contacted him.
Sure, I get that, but who actually had the money to offer him? Charlotte? Atlanta?
I think it was pretty clear Ibaka wasn't a serious option for those teams and his value was always for the MLE with a contender. I had Brooklyn and the Lakers slightly ahead of us, but I think Ibaka and his agent knew where he wanted to play.
So are we lucky? Maybe? I think there is much more to it than that.
Ibaka was one of the last major FAs to sign. I would think the delay was in hanging around hoping the big money might materialize somewhere, or else he'd have signed right away. Indeed it might have helped get one of the other FAs the Clips were pursuing, dunno. It wouldn't have hurt, anyway.
The Clips figured the same as you did, gambled, and won. But man, this offseason would have been a DISASTER if they hadn't won this gamble. We'd have been palpably worse than last year while the Lakers got better.